1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to designs and methods for reducing the effects of drag force when using a driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Golf club driver designs have recently trended to include characteristics intended to increase the driver's inertia values to help off-center hits go farther and straighter. Driver designs have also recently included larger faces, which may help the driver deliver better feeling shots as well as shots that have higher ball speeds if hit away from the face center. These recent trends can, however, be detrimental to the driver's performance due to the head speed reductions that these design features introduce due to the larger geometries. The prior art generally fails to provide driver designs that efficiently reduce drag forces and consequentially enable the driver to be swung faster along its path and contribute to an improved impact event with the golf ball.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) has increasingly limited the performance innovations of golf clubs, particularly drivers. Recently, the USGA has limited the volume, dimensions of the head, such as length, width, and height, face compliance, inertia of driver heads and overall club length. Current methods previously used to improve the performance of a driver have been curtailed by limitations on design parameters set by the USGA.
An area of driver performance improvement that exists, as of this date, is the potential to reduce the drag force that opposes the driver's travel through the air during its path to the golf ball on the tee. A reduction in drag force would allow the driver club head to travel faster along its path and contribute to an improved impact event with the golf ball, resulting in higher golf ball velocities and consequentially, in longer golf shots. The purpose of the present invention is to effectively incorporate several design features in the driver club head that will enable lower drag coefficients as the driver is swung by a golfer. The design features will reduce drag forces and consequently allow the driver to be swung faster than conventional driver designs that currently exist. Improving the drag coefficients of the face, crown and sole surfaces will reduce the overall drag forces that impede the driver club head from moving faster through the air and the head speed of the driver is increased by approximately 1 to 5 mph.